Research and Related Other Project Information 7. Project Summary/Abstract The North Dakota Department of Health, Division of Food and Lodging (the Department), promotes integrated and uniform retail food regulatory programs managed and enforced by state, local, and tribal government agencies statewide. In addition to the Department, who regulates and inspects retail food establishments including restaurants, retail food stores, small food processing plants, child-care and school foodservice kitchens, this authority is delegated to nine local, district, and city public health units located throughout the state of North Dakota. The Department provides general oversite and guidance over state and local food safety programmatic activities including license and inspections, compliance, and enforcement actions as well as training, code interpretation, and standardization of state and local inspection staff. The Department is focused on reducing risk factors known to cause foodborne illness outbreaks associated in manufactured and retail food settings; therefore, it is critical to establish procedures, protocols, and evidence-based intervention strategies that improve food safety. The Department benefits from using the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (Retail Program Standards) as a framework to prioritize program goals and target resources for continuous improvement in order to enhance and improve food safety practices in retail food settings operating in North Dakota. The specific aims in this proposal include: 1) update and implement a strategic plan to direct activities to advance conformance with the Retail Program Standards that can be shared and duplicated by local and tribal regulatory programs across multiple jurisdictions; 2) demonstrate the ability to adequately train regulatory inspection staff, meet FDA standardization procedures, and establish a quality assurance program; and 3) improve data acquisition, quality, reporting capabilities, and data sharing using innovative technology solutions and electronic communication systems. Deployment of a web-based, electronic license and inspection information management system has advanced efforts in integrating the state?s regulatory retail food safety information management system with all nine local regulatory program data systems. Program integration using modern technology will enhance the ability of data sharing, improve data quality, and advance methods of communication amongst state and local regulatory retail food programs.